


The experimental cure

by pain_and_panic



Category: The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Suicide Attempt, The Death Cure Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-10
Updated: 2015-05-07
Packaged: 2018-03-17 04:32:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 11,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3515474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pain_and_panic/pseuds/pain_and_panic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two weeks after he wakes up in Paradise, Newt sees Alby for the first time. And that is not good. And No-one else seems to see him, and that is even worst.</p><p>or</p><p>AU where Thomas didn’t meet Newt on the way to WICKED, RatMan got the blond boy before, because the experiment cannot be close without a control subject. Or a guinea pig for the Cure.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, fan fiction are fun because if you don't like the end of a book you can play with his character a little bit more. Some times I prefer the books that don't end as I like so I can play a little bit more..  
> Anyway, all this is to say: I own nothing. Also, this is not betad and I'm not a native speaker, so, if you wanna comment, even only to said how I could improve my English, I will love it. Also, If you can think a better title, I will love to hear it.  
> thank you to read.

Thomas has just been introduced to the two strangers - Dr Wright and Dr Christensen - and now Janson was talking about needing his brain. For a terrible moment Thomas was sure they were going to open his skull and to have a look inside meanwhile he was still alive, but apparently their instrument should suffice for a less invasive inspection.

They were going to stimulate his brain, and they expected results consistent with the blueprint. At the same time they were going to stimulate a Flare infected brain, forcing it to have the same reaction, to activate the same regions of the killzone. This, combined with a drugs that should improve the antibodies reaction to the virus, should give the possibility to the infected to get ride the Flare and acquire immunity. 

“We would like to start as soon as possible, if it is ok with you Thomas”

“I guess I need some time to reflect on it…”

“Maybe” Janson interrupted him ”you will feel more confident knowing that the candidate chosen between the infected is one of your old friends…”

“What do you mean?”

“Looking for the blueprint, and observing the control group as well, we realize that you can induce some reactions in others subject, and that is the reason you are our Final Candidate. On the other hand, the sick subject that better react to your interaction was the subject A-5”

“Newt...” was the soft whisper from Thomas.

As evocated, the blond guy was bring into the same room by three guards. Thomas’ heart cried to see his friend, pale and banged-up, his ripped shirt barely hanged onto his thin frame. But the worst part were Newt’ eyes, angry and completely insane. 

When those eyes landed on Thomas, the older boy started to scream: “I trusted you with the note! No one else! Why you didn’t do it! Why you cannot kill me you, shuck coward?! Couldn’t you put me out of my misery? I trusted you. I trusted you! And now I’m again in their hands!!!” Newt cried.

Janson looks unimpressed “Isn’t he under Bliss?”  
“We gave him the normal doses, but he seems unaffected”

“Fascinating” Dr Christensen step in before Janson could add anything. “Wanna we start?” She couldn’t contain her excitement.

“Thomas didn’t agree yet” Janson smirked, and Thomas hated him, because he couldn’t abandon Newt again, not after had left him in the Cranks Palace, not after had ignored his note.

They start the procedure.

 

___

 

In Thomas the discomfort of the brain electric stimulation wasn’t so horrible as many of the Variables he was subject to. But he cannot said the same for Newt. Looks like “forcing it to have the same reaction, to activate the same regions of the killzone” consisted in fried his brain every time its reaction is not the same as the Thomas one. Thomas was sure the electrocutions was declared illigal and immoral ages ago, but for WICKED ethics and science doesn't mix.  
So the procedure was a nightmare, worst than assist Alby to pass through the Changing, worst than see Chuck dies at the end of the Maze, worst than everything, because Newt was calling his name, he’s crying for him “please, Tommy, please, make them stop it, kill me, kill me…” and Thomas cried for the whole procedure.

He could swore that the procedure last days, but when the first explosion rattled the building - hospital- Thomas realized he was here for last that three hours. HE also realized that he had been pass out sometime before, because was in another room, and he couldn’t see Newt anywhere and that is bad, really bad.

A manila folder on the table beside his bed caught his attention.  
It contained the indication to find the other subject, and indication to get out of there. And a letter from the Chancellor whom explains her reason.  
Thomas was glad for the direction, even if he trusted the letter only for Brenda’ sake, but he couldn’t breath till he found Newt in the next chamber. The blond boy was pale, but cleaner than before, the only sign of the procedure were the tears on his cheek and the burn signs on his temples.

After that everything looks like a dream. He remember to bring Newt unconscious body in the Flat Trans room before head for the Maze. He remember to talk to Vince, to convince Gally to join him, to be back in the Maze and to fight again against the Grievers, but everything seems even less real than his memories-dreams.

But doesn’t matter, all that matter is that now, a week after, they are safe in the paradise, and even if Newt didn’t wake up yet after the procedure, he just start to struggle.

Minho is faster than Thomas to grab the blond’ hand, and the both of them lean on the bed of the blond with identical expression of hope.

“Hey shuck-faces…” is his first whisper, and Thomas just bows and hugs him like his life -or his sanity-depends on it. That’s does, by the way.  
Minho hugs both of them and they stay in that way till Newt fall asleep again.

 

_____

Everything is fine, everything is perfect in paradise, till is not.

Two weeks after he wake up in Paradise, Newt sees Alby for the first time. And that is not good. And No-one else seems to see him, and that is even worst.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> two chapters in two days? don't get used to that, please, I'm quite surprise myself (And I know that I should finish another couple of ff..)
> 
> thank you for reading!

Two weeks after he wake up in Paradise, Newt sees Alby for the first time. And that is not good. And No-one else seems to see him, and that is even worst.

_____

Thomas was changing Newt’s wrist bandages when the blond boy saw Alby. To be completely fair, the burns derived from the procedure, where his wrists were constrained to the bed, were faintly visible by now, but Thomas still taking care of them. 

Newt had suppressed the shiver on his spine for the view of Thomas kneeling in front of him, holding Newt’s left hand like it was made of crystal, almost worshipping it. 

Newt had suppressed the shiver on his spine and he had looked away. 

And Alby was there, smirking to the blond boy like the day he left to follow Minho into the Maze to the death Griver, gorgeous as usual. 

Thomas was trying to find the courage to kiss Newt’ wrist, when the strong intake of breath from the older boy redirect his attention.  
“Newt?” he ask, but the blond boy was staring at the wall behind Thomas, whom when turned, couldn't see anything.

Tommy’s voice woke Newt from his trance, and Alby disappeared “uh…”

“Are you ok, did I hurt you?”  
“No, Tommy, I just… I just remember something important, I had to go, I’m sorry, thank you again for the help…”  
Newt ran away before terminate the phrase.

Thomas swore under his breath and started to put away the medical supplies.

____

No one seemed able to see Alby, but he appeared quite often. He kissed Newt in the morning, and walked with him into the forest when Newt needed to be away from the paradise, and held his hand during the days and hugged him during the nights.

Newt talked with him only when they were alone, and he tried to convince himself that everything was fine, that he wasn’t loosing his mind again.  
The fact the hallucinations Flare-induced had been angry and mean with him, helped a little bit to accept Alby, and he enjoy to have his boyfriend back.

Thinking about that, Newt find it hilarious: back in the Maze they had kept their relationship secret for Alby’s fear of Gladers reactions. Now it was Newt that keep it a secret to avoid to be consider sick again.

He managed to keep the secret for a whole month, but after that everything crush.

____

Minho was pushing Newt, his attitude even worst than usual, and Newt lost it.  
“shut that bloody hole, you shuckface” Newt said before punch Minho in the face.

Minho was ready to hit again, ready for a rerun of the fight back in the WICKED facilities, but something in the blonde face stop him.  
Newt looked scared and almost teary, and for a moment Minho wanna know how to reassure him. Before the asian guy could make his mind and hug his closest friend, Newt ran away, almost running into Thomas in the hurry of get out.

Thomas was entering in the room he share with his two friend in the paradise version of the Homestead when Newt ran passed him, tears on his cheeks and hunted eyes.

“Minho, what did you do?”  
“Nothing”  
“It doesn’t look like nothing, looks like you made him cry!”  
“…”  
“Minho!”  
“I’m sorry, ok? but for the first time he was acting like himself, the old self back into the Glade, I just wanna him back, my Newt, not that broken shadow that live here!”  
“He went through a lot, cut him some space”  
"..."  
"..."  
“Yeah…I should go to look for him now… to apologize, you know?”  
“Yeah, you should, but I’m coming, to be sure you will not screw anything else…”  
“Slim it, shuck face, he is my friend, I can take care of him by myself!”  
“Like you just did?”  
“oh, shut it”

The two boys kept bicker while they went for the same way they’re supposing Newt has gone. They were giving each other the silent treatment when they arrive nearby the cliff where Newt was sitting, so they arrived close enough to heard what the blond guy was saying.

“…I know I promises you, but I’m loosing it, and I cannot became a Crank again…  
…I’m sorry, so sorry…  
…no, they will be fine without me, and we could be together, it’s not enough for you?  
Please, Alby, please…  
…This time it’s high enough…It will be ok…”

Thomas could’t breath, or move, he wasn’t sure he understand all the implications of what Newt was saying, but he didn’t like the defeated tone, nor the fact the blonde was apparently talking with a death imaginary friend. 

Minho’s heart was screaming /not again, not again, I cannot came close to lose him again/, but this time his brain reacted faster, and in one second he was kneeling close to his broken friend, hugging him and kissing his forehead, and murmuring reassurance in his ear, and pleading him to not jump, to again, “we will face everything together, please, please, everything will be fine, I will take care of you, please Newt, please…” 

The view of a crying Minho, kneeled and wrapped around Newt, shook Thomas, who hugged both his friends and pulled them away from the cliff.  
And when they both stopped crying, more from exhaustion than from relief, he leaded the home, tucked them in the same bed and wrapped himself all around. Only then he allow himself to think how close they came to loose Newt again, and with this thought he cried himself to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

They stayed in the bed together for two days before the Paradise life demanded for Thomas and Minho to go out and act like the leader they were supposed to be.

They did their best to have always someone with Newt, too scared that the blonde could try anything, even if their friend looked almost catatonic as he layed on the bed with ajar eyes. Newt didn’t speak nor establish eyes contact for the whole time, too lost in his own thoughts. 

Thomas was scared that the cure didn’t work, but Minho had known Newt for all the life he could remember, and he knew the blond boy was just in one of his depressive phases, like often had happened back in the Glade. Or at least, he was hoping that was only that.

In this moment Brenda’s shift was on, and she was trying to talk some sense into the depressed boy.  
“They love you, you know? you are hurting Thomas and Minho in this way!”   
When she realized he was crying she felt guilty, and scared that Newt’s auto-proclaimed guardians could kick her ass. But, even so, she insisted, because at least she was obtaining a reaction from him.  
“It would be so easy to make them happy, you should just eat something or say something or even just look at them…”  
“I cannot…” he finally said “I cannot drag them down with me, I wish I successes when I jumped in the Maze… you are right, I’m hurting them, I just… I’m just scared I'm loosing my mind again….I'm terrify I will attack them, damage them ...”  
She would like to reassure him, but honestly she wasn’t sure herself: he was still sick? I didn’t acts like the other Crank, but they said he was delusional, and that was a typical Flare’ symptom.

Minho return saved her from the situation. Newt looked like he would like to disappear into the bed, but after a couple of stabilizing breath, he turned to look at the asian boy. Minho looked relieved and sat on the bed with a soft “hey shuck face…” that provoked a small smile on the blonde mouth “Hey …”  
Thomas found them on the couch for a change, and smiled for two days after that.

____

Newt was trying to prepare the dinner for his two friends, to thanks them for everything.  
Teresa was sitting on the counter, watching on him and blabbing about anything, when he realized that Alby was there as well. She noticed that he was staring the wall and crying, and call his name gently “Newt? Are you with me?”

“Yeah..."Soft and insicure, but after a while he come back "yeah, I agree with you…or at least, I guess so.. sorry, what we were talking about, again?”

“I was telling you that your should really start to have sex with Thomas, or with Minho or with both of them…”

Newt went bright red and start sputtering “what, whoa bloody hell, where this came from?”  
she chuckled, amused she has bring him back.

____

Minho felt like he could breath again. Newt was out of his “down” period, he was cooking, and cleaning their quarter, and even if the blonde couldn’t yet feel confortable with going out and meeting strangers, Minho started to feel optimistic.

He was exploring the surrondings of the Paradise, and he just found this river, with little falls and green all around. It looked like a place where you could find little fairies flying around, and Minho wished that Newt was well enough to come in this place with him. /Maybe I could convince him, I just have to find something that can make him curious/ . That something, he decided, was going to be a bundle of red and yellow flowers. /Yeah, he would like to see where I found them, he always loved this kind of stuff” 

____

The sight of the flowers left Newt speechless. He kept watching at them and smiling and kissing Minho’s cheek for the whole evening.

____ 

The sight of the flowers gave Thomas conflicting feelings. On one side, he was glad Newt was smiling, and Minho keep blushing every time Newt kiss his cheek and Thomas cannot decided who was the cutest one. On the other side, however, he would like to be the one that make Newt smile.  
/Tomorrow/ he decided /I will bring Newt a better present!/

____

The day after Thomas brought him purplish flower, a bunch bigger than Minho’s one. Newt put them together with the others, and kiss Tommy’s cheek, and Thomas felt like now this place deserve the name Paradiso.

____

Minho understood Thomas game, and started with him a present fight.

____

Teresa chuckled watching at Newt’s flower collection. “Oh, Newty, they are so sweet!”

“They are bloody idiots! How I’m supposed to keep this place clean and tidy with all this stuff?!”

“Oh, poor boy! Look, they love you, they stayed with you through the worst part of our lives. Doesn’t that matter?”

“Yeah, they keep me sane, but, Teresa, I cannot… I mean… Alby… I love him, we used to be lover, and I feel like I’m betray him… and I know that he is death, I know, but … bloody hell, I don’t think I’m ready for let him go… But I like when they show that they care, even if I don’t know why they should care of someone like me…and I feel like I don’t deserve them, because they are both brilliant and they never give up, and I’m the one that tried to kill himself twice…”

“Hush now, you survived. You are the only not-immune survivor in this giant mess, it should count something…”

Teresa watched as Newt tried to metabolize this new point of view.  
“You know? I didn’t trust you too much, especially after the Scorch trial, but now I’m glad you are here with us, with me…”  
“Newt, you already have too many suitor, you shouldn’t give me sweet talks…”  
“haha slim it, you shank”  
“shut up, I had to go, you will be fine ten minutes by yourself?”  
“yeah, no prob, I will be a good boy, I promise”  
“Good boy, see you tomorrow!”

Left alone, Newt took the knife from the drawer, entertained the idea of slide it on his wrist, but after a minute he thought to Minho and Tommy, and their stupid floral competition, and Teresa and her suggestions, and use the knife to peel the potatoes for the dinner.


	4. Chapter 4

Newt was scared to be angry. Thomas realized that one day, and felt stupid for realizing it so late. How was possible for him to miss all the clues? 

The tenth days he and Minho had brought him flowers, he had yelled at them and, as soon as he had realized what he was doing, he had stormed out crying.

And a week before, Thomas has surprised him from behind and had startled him, and Newt had punched Tommy. He had look so devastated after that, and had lied on the bed, too depressed to move, for days.

“You are scared to be angry!”  
“What are you talking about?”  
Newt’ eyebrow lifted to show his confusion, and Minho had an identical expression of surprise.  
They were in their quarter, sitting around the table, eating their dinner. Well, Thomas and Minho were eating it. Newt was moving the fork around the plate and taking a bite every now and then.

“Newt, let’s face it, every time that you was yell at us because we were acting as idiots and we deserved it, you get upset and teary and you are scared to be angry…”

“Slim it, Tommy, Slim it now!” there was an hint of something in Newt voice, a pleading for being left alone, but Minho did’t get it.

“Thomas is right, back in the Glade you was the one that keep everyone at their place, even if the Alby was the leader you were the one that cared for us and that let us know when we were stupid. Now you are scared to be yourself. We gave you time to find your bearings, but now we have to face it, you cannot keep doing that to yourself…”

“You don’t understand! YOU CANNOT UNDERSTAND!!!! YES, I’M SCARED, I’M BLOODY SCARED I’M LOOSING MY MIND!” Newt yelled, and after, with a softer voice he added ”I’m scared to be mad, to pass the Gone, to hurt you…” Newt finished in a whisper.

“You are not going mad…” Alby spoke gently.  
“Shut it, Alby!” Newt answered dryly before realized who he was spoking to.  
Minho looked disturbed and shocked, Tommy just devastated and Alby guilty.  
“Great, my hallucination just told me I’m not going mad, brilliant, bloody brilliant and reassuring! Thank you Alby! and stop to look at me with those pity expression, all the three of you!”

“Newt, slim it, man, everything if going to be fine…”   
“Oh, really Minho? you just told me I should allow myself to be angry and now I should slim it? shuck you all, I’m going to sleep, I hope to not find any of you here when I will wake up!”

Newt stood up, too fast if the spinning head was any clue, and limped till half way to the bedroom before fainted, crumpling to the ground like a rag doll.

The other two boys could just watch him fall, too far from him to be able to catch him.  
They ran to him, and Minho send Thomas to grab Cliff, meanwhile he lifted Newt limp body to carry him into the bedroom. He took a moment to observe the blonde in his arms. Newt’ face was paler than usual, his lips almost white, but his cheeks were red, and Minho realized he could feel the heat coming from the blonde. Great, a fever was the last thing they need now… 

____

 

Cliff could find any reason for this sudden change in Newt’s health. “My guess, that by now is good as the one of everyone else, is that this is a reaction to the cure. I mean, it was the first attempt, and Thomas here said they gave him some medicament. It’s quite late for this kind of effect to show but I haven’t any other ideas… Unless… mmmm…”  
“What? Unless what? Talk shuck face!”  
“Slim it Minho… Cliff, Unless what?”Thomas tried to be nicer but he was driven by the same urgency of the older boy.   
“I was just thinking… he got the immunity, his brain learned how to combat the sickness, and his antibodies were helped to combat the virus… what if he get infected again? Its possible that his brain, his kill zone, will combat the Flare, but his antibodies will have no help this time… that will be coherent with the timeline but…”  
“But what?” Minho had never been the patient one  
“But they said that Munies couldn’t diffused the Flare, they are always clean…”  
“So?” but also Thomas was eager to know  
“So we have a Crank here in Paradise…”

______


	5. Chapter 5

“So we have a Crank here in Paradise…”

Minho and Thomas went silent for a moment  
“It’s ok, I mean, we just need to find him or her before he o she pass the Gone and become really dangerous for everyone” Cliff tried to reassure his friends.  
“there are two hundred people shuck face, how we are supposed to control everyone?” Minho wasn’t reassured at all.  
“Well, should be someone that have a direct contact with Newt, so the list should be really short”  
“But how is possible? Everyone was tested!” Thomas yell, “We are free, we should be free from that curse, that should be our safe place!Why we cannot be safe for more than five minutes?”   
“Thomas..” Minho would like to comfort his friend, but as usual he wasn’t able to find the words /that is Newt role/ .

Has summoned from Minho’s thought, the blonde appears at the door frame. Apparently the idea of going in the living room to leave him rest wasn’t good enough, not in this small quarters with thin walls.  
“Tommy” Newt started with a soft, pained voice “we are safe here! We are safer that every previous time, and we will front this new problem… I mean, probably, but is just an hypothesis, there is a Crank around who didn’t pass the gone yet… barely a thread if confronted to the Grievers” Newt was holding the door frame like it was the only thing that keep him standing. And probably it was. He was also shivering and, if the pale face and red cheeks were any indication, still feverish.  
“Newt is right, we will find the Crank and get rid of him” Minho said with his leader voice, as he took a step toward the blonde “Come on, shuck face, you shouldn’t be out of the bed” and with this he lifted Newt in his arms and brought him to the bedchamber ignoring the indignant protest of the ill boy.   
When he come back he had a new determination on his eyes “we need a Gathering, if there is a Crank we need to find him. Let’s interrogate all Newt babysitters as well”

_____

 

The day after Teresa was sitting with Newt, waiting for Minho and Thomas coming back from the Gathering.  
Newt’ fever went down a little bit during the night, but it wasn’t gone for real and the boy felt unstable, and he hated it.  
Someone knocked at the door, and since Teresa had gone to the toilet in that moment, Newt had to go and open the door. Barely twenty steps, but he cannot remember to had been so tired since the last time he run in the Maze. Well, the second last. The last last he run halfway and after was Alby to bring him back. Anyway, he was far from the fit boy he used to be in the Glade and someway that make him feel ashamed. At the door, a blondish, middle age woman was looking at him. He remember she came to babysit him another couple of time, she was a Brenda’s friend and her name was something like Aya or Anya or maybe Ava… Anyways, the woman smile at him, and even if Newt cannot remember his mum, he was sure that kind of smile was a typical maternal one.

“Hi Newt, Brenda told me you were sick, so I bring you a tea that will help you” the woman said.  
“Thank you…” Newt wasn’t sure how to manage the situation, he spend his all life - or the part he can remember, anyway - with male teenagers, but he was quite sure that there exist manner and etiquette to properly interact with adult people.  
She looked at him with a knowing expression, and saved him form the situation, “I had to go now, but I wish you get better soon. Goodbye Newton”  
And with this she disappeared on the stairs.  
“Who was there?” Teresa came back and helped him to reach the sofa, that was way closer than his bed.  
“Brenda’s friend. She bring me some tea for my fever”  
“So nice of her… Should we add her to you list of suitors?”  
“She’s old enough to be my mum!”  
“ahahaha”  
“shut it, shuck face”   
They stare each other for few moment before start to laugh again.

____

Newt fell asleep after he drank his tea.   
He felt like he just close his eyes, but the light was different and Teresa was gone, replaced by Jorge and the little girl he adopted here in the Paradise - for Teresa he was trying to replace Brenda, that now was a grown up, independent woman, for Brenda he simply cannot resist to bring home strays and tramps.

The little girl, Daisy, was lying on the bed, cuddling against Newt side. She wasn’t older that five, and Newt was sure that even if he got his memories back, she would remain the cutest little princess he ever see. She was blonder than Newt, and this golden locks were all around Newt’s pillow and on her light blue sundress. She was holding a worn stuffed bunny in her arms, and she was chowing one of the floppy ears.   
“You two looks like little angels in that bed, I regret I haven’t a camera with me, hermano” Jorge’ soft voice distracted Newt from the little girl.  
“How long did I sleep?”  
“One day and half, you drive that two muchachos on the walls…” Jorge repressed a laugh, but you could also see concern and relief in his eyes.  
“What!” Newt realize too late his was too loud, and that he woke the little Daisy.   
“Good morning New” she said. “I’m hungry, can I have my dinner with New, pretty please?”  
“Sure thing, young lady, let’s find some dinner” Newt answered, and lifted himself and the girl from the bed.  
“Newt, you should’t go out of the bed, and neither you should lift weights nor stress yourself…” Jorge concern was appreciated, but for the first time in ages Newt feel good.

That day Minho come back to find his Newt sitting on the sofa in the living room, sewing a hole in a stuffed bunny ear, with a little girl chattering in his ear. Her voice was too soft so Minho didn’t know what she said to make Newt giggle that way. /You cannot be jealous of that little girl/   
He spoted Thomas and Jorge, whom were in the kitchen zone, that was separated from the living room only from the kitchen island. They wear identical expression of adoration as they stared at the scene on the couch. As he felt Minho’ gaze, Thomas looked at him, and smile. “They are adorable” he mouthed. “I know” Minho answer in the same way.


	6. Chapter 6

After a couple of days almost normals, Newt’s depression hit back one Tuesday and he'd been spending the whole day lying on the bed. 

“What was to initiate it this time?” was Thomas’ concerned and whispered question to Minho.  
“It’s just a bad day, sometimes he got one of this, we have only to wait…” was Minho’ defeated answer. 

Fortunately the morning after Daisy and her bunny, Mr. Sunny, brought him flowers, “Jorge said they have my same name!” she said, and when Thomas and Minho got back that night, Newt was up, in the kitchen, with Daisy seated on his hip as they prepared pancakes for everyone.

Teresa arrived on Thursday to find the blonde boy reading a cook book looking for the perfect cake for the little Daisy. They spent the whole morning deciding and fighting and the entire afternoon baking but together they made a perfect chocolate and cream cake for the little girl.

Everything was fine till on Friday Thomas come back from one of his exploration to find Newt fainted on the floor, and his cheeks were burning with the fever.   
For the all weekend the only sounds in their quarter were Newt’s hard breathing and his casual whimpers every now and then. 

So Newt was lying on Thomas chest, whom kept him sitter as this position facilitate the blonde labored breath, when Thomas realized what that feeling was. "I'm in love with Newt..."

Minho, who was rub the blonde temples with a wet towel, suddenly lifted his eyes from the pale face to gaze at the brunette.  
"Doesn't matter if you or I are in love with him, he still loves Alby" there was a subtle tone of sadness in his words, but Minho couldn't bother to hide it.

"But Alby's dead"  
"Not for him, he still seeing him..."  
"No, I can help him to get over it!"

"Thomas, you know him for what? Three months? Do you really believe that you will be able to overcome what Alby did for him?"  
"But..."   
"No, listen shuck face, Alby was there in more bad days that you can imagine, he saved Newt from the Maze when he jumped, he help Newt to deal with the consequences of his jump, he was able to make him want to be alive the day after, WE WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO DO THAT, SHUCKFACE, NEVER, SO SLIM IT NOW!"  
"SO YOU ARE GIVING UP ON HIM? SHUCK YOURSELF MINHO, I NEVER THOUGHT YOU WOULD BE SUCH A COWARD!"  
They were yelling at each other more for the frustration of not being able to help their broken friend than anything else, and they would go on on that all night, but the scared whimper from the sick boy stopped them.

Newt's eyes were open, but unfocused, and the blond boy didn't look aware of his surroundings.   
He looked at Minho "you shouldn't have followed  me here"  
"Newt?"  
“I told you bloody shanks to get lost!”  
"Newt, where do you think we are?" Thomas whispered in Newt ear.  
"The Crank Palace?" Newt seemed unsure now, but a little bit more present.  
"No Newt, you are safe now, we are in Paradise, do you remember?" Minho whisper was sweet and gentle as his hand was lying on Newt's cheek and his thumb was gently stroke Newt's cheekbone.

"Oh.." Was Newt's little sound in response, "I believed that was only a dream, or an hallucination... And there were those cranks yelling each other and I was sure to be back there.." His words were slurring now and he lost rapidly his fight against the unconsciousness.

Minho kept stroking at his cheekbone for a while. "I used to be jealous of Alby's ability to calm him down, but now I'm wishing he could be here and make him feel better" Minho eyes were stuck to the broken blonde in Thomas arms.

"You are in love with him as well, aren't you?" Thomas said with a sweet voice.

"Ah ah ah, greenie, of course I am! How I could resist to him?"  
"But he'd never knows about that"  
"No, as I said, doesn't matter if me and you are in love with him, his hearth belong to Alby"

"Yeah, I hear you the first time, shuck face, but I don't care"  
"Ptff, greenie..."  
"What do you mean with jump?" Thomas asked even if he was pretty sure he didn't want to know.  
"What do you think it means? He climbed the damn wall in the maze, and jump of it to try to kill himself... Alby found him and carried him back just in time before the doors closed.. Man, we were all so terrified he was going to die... He was sort of a mum for everyone, and of course everyone was a little in love with him... I think I hadn't seen so many gladers cry all together since the first thirty had waked up in the Glades the first day"

"I'm sorry for that, by the way..." Newt was awake again, but this time he looks a little bit more present.

"Just don't scare me like that anymore, ok?"

____

Sunday morning more tea appeared in front of their door, and by the evening Newt was better, and Minho started to questionnaire were the tea come from.

The three of them were sitting on the couch in the living room, Newt insist on that since he needed a change of scenario, even if he still being insatiable on his legs, and his limp was so much worst than usual that Minho practically had to carry him.

So they were sitting there, when Minho express the doubt he had from the first time: “Where did the tea come from?”  
“What do you mean, it was in front of the door…”  
“No, I means, it was there also the first time? I’d never asked you…” Minho looked apologetic, like he slight Newt in this way.  
“The first time Branda’s friend gave it to me”

“Which friend?” Thomas asked, and Newt started to feel uncomfortable under their interrogatory gazes.  
“The blond-ish, middle-age woman? Ada or Anya or something with and ‘A’, oh, right Ava, Mrs Ava Paige, that it’s! ”  
“Ava Paige? Like in Ava Paige the Chancellor Paige???” Minho was yelling now, yelling in Newt face.

“Slim it, shuck face!” Newt yelled back “Stop to yell, breath and slim it” he repeat, calmer.

“She was the WICKED boss! come'on her face was the one on all the walls in Denver!”

“How bloody useful, I never step in Denver, you know?”

“But… but…. Thomas say something!”

“Well, she help us here, did’t she? So maybe she just wanna help us…” Thomas’ tone was unsure at least  
“Oh, thank you shuck face, now cut the sugar coats and tell us what do you really think!” Minho was all the leader his tattoo declare him to be.

“He thinks that that bloody shanks still watching on us and experiment with us, with me, right Tommy?”  
“Yeah”  
“Great, simply great… let’s find Brenda, let’s hear what she’s planning and where we should find the Chancellor”


	7. Chapter 7

Brenda and Jorge were sitting the couch of the living room, with Thomas and Minho, who were on the stool of the kitchen island, on a side and Newt, who was sitting on the armchair, on the other side.

They were all silently looking at the little Daisy who was playing on the floor with Mr Sunny.

Jorge cleared his throat, and Brenda started to speak “the Chancellor Paige has never come here in Paradise, that had never ever been in the plan…”

“Are you completely sure she is not here? Has anyone ever get a glimpse of her?”   
For Newt that sounded like Tommy means ‘anyone who is not crazy or mental’

“No, only Newt… ” Yep, only the crazy one, brilliant...

“Well, Teresa was here the first time she brought me the tea, they didn’t meet each other, but maybe she hear her voice… Could we ask Teresa to come?”

“Newt…” Thomas looked so distress that Newt almost regretted his words. Almost, because now he needed to know that that was real.

“Look, Tommy, I know you’ve never forgiven her for what happened in the Scorch, and I know that she is leaving always ten minutes before you come back only to spare you the trouble of meet her, but this is becoming ridiculous, you used to be such good friend, and she still care for you so much!”

“Newt… I… I cannot…” Tommy seemed like he was going to cry.  
He looked at Minho with pleading eyes, and Minho sighed and nodded in return. 

“Newt… ” Minho sounded sweet and scared, and his eyes were full of pity for Newt, and Newt couldn’t restrain himself, so he screamed at him to stop to look at him in that way. 

At that Daisy looked up from her bunny, she was chewing its ear again, and burst in tears.

Newt ran to her apologizing with her for his behavior. He hugged her but her started to act up to him and tried to push him away, weeping till Jorge stepped in and tucked her in his arms. With the little girl in his arms, the older man sat back on the couch. 

Newt instead was still sitting on the ground, and Minho had to force himself to talk again after this, even if he felt like he was going to give him the knockout blow.   
“Newt… Teresa never arrived here at the Paradise… I’m sorry, she died to save Thomas, to allow him to take the TransFlat…”

Newt felt like he couldn’t breath, as all the air has been sucked from his lungs. He felt so numb… so that’s it, that made it official, he's lost his mind.

“There is any real shank in this bloody place, or it’s all in my mind?” he said with a little sneering laugh, that quite soon became a sob.

He couldn’t sustain their pitiful glares anymore, so he just ran away. He ran fast, quick as before he broke his leg, as when he had been the faster runner in the Maze, as when his life had felt unbearable but at least he had been able to rely on his mind.

He blindly ran to the same cliff of the only other time he went out of their rooms. He wiped his eyes only to decide the point he was jumping from, this time he couldn’t allow himself to fail. He looked around, found the right spot, took a deep breath and step in that direction.

“If I were you, I would jump two steps further on the left” Newt whined for the surprise when he heard the woman's voice that came from his right side.

“Are you real?”

“Does it matter? If you cannot tell anymore what is real and what’s not, then probably is time to quit it”

“Why two steps on the left?”  
“To avoid that tree down here..”  
“Oh…”  
“Do you want me to jump with you, sweetheart?” And that maternal expression, with that tones, that broke him.   
He started to weep and sob and she grabbed his hand, and pulled him closer, and jumped.  
She jumped, from the cliff, and pulled Newt with her. 

Newt recognized the sensation of the fall, and smiled for the first time since long long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m a bad person, so this chapter ends in this way, but I’m not a completely cruel person, so I'm planning to give you the next chapter before the end of the weekend…  
> I just would like to thanks all of you that read till here, and even more those whom commented! comments and review are better than cookies!!!
> 
> So, thank you atz <3 and Sydney (yeah, she’s BAD, indeed, but also maternal and scaryyyy), for commenting!


	8. Chapter 8

When Newt started to run, Minho and Thomas were too shocked to follow him immediately.   
Also, Newt ran fast, so when they ran to the cliff, he was already in midair, falling to his death.  
They ran to the edge, but they couldn’t see the body anywhere between the trees on the foot of the cliff.

Thomas wasn’t sure what happened after that: he noticed, with the corner of his eye, Minho taking a step back and a deep breath. In his adrenaline rush, Thomas tackled the asian boy just a second before Minho could jump from the cliff.

“NO, MINHO, NO I CANNO’T LOOSE YOU AS WELL, NOT NOW, PLEASE!”  
“HE JUMPED! NOTHING MATTER ANYMORE, I LOST HIM! We lost him...”

They were still lying on the edge of the cliff, Minho nailed under Thomas, and they were both crying.  
Thomas was holding the other boy, but what started as a restraining act, ended up in an hug as the brunette kept whispering “i can’t loose you, i can’t…” Thomas felt like his guts were torn and rip apart and like is own soul was powdered down of the cliff. Minho under him was shaking and sobbing and the sight of him made Thomas heart shrink even more. He could hear a mournful sound, and he realized that come from himself. 

He'd lost his beloved Newt, sweet, maternal Newt, strong and broken at the same time, his Newt.

And he was close to loose Minho as well. Minho, his best friend, his hothead leader, his mentor in the Maze, his rival in the race for Newt heart. 

They wailed and sobbed till they had the strength to do so, and after they wept a little bit more.

After a while, they sat on the edge, looking down to the forest below.  
“We should go down there, to find the body, ya know? We cannot leave him there, Tommy, we can’t…”  
Thomas would like to fight against the use of that pet name, only Newt could call him that way, only him and no one else. But Newt jumped, and Minho seemed ready to follow him, and he couldn't survive without the two most important people in his life.

And in that moment, in that moment the wind blowed three little, fragile leaves over the edge of the cliff, and as Thomas followed those with his gaze, the three leaves disappeared all together.

“Minho, did you see that?” Thomas asked urgently.  
“What?”

But Thomas wasn’t bother to answer, he just stood up, and jump in the same point where the leaves disappeared.

Minho’s heart stopped for a moment, but when he saw Thomas disappearing in the thin air, he recognize the grievers hole as well.

He stood for a moment, wondering if he should go back and collect an army or jump with him, head against hearth, but his needs of seen Newt, to be sure he is alive, won and so he jumped as well.

Going through the damn thing was bad as he remember, but by the time he recovered, Thomas was already pushing him against a wall to hide them from a guard. 

“Man, a little notice could be appreciated!”  
“yeah, yeah, I’m sorry…”  
“I hope you got a plan and even a non suicidal one…”  
“I’m working on that…”

“we have to find him…”  
Thomas didn’t want to spread his fear,his though that maybe Newt didn’t jump in the hole, that was still possible that their friend was lying on the foot of the cliff, into the forest. He kept this thought for himself, and start to walk on the opposite direction of the guard, just snooping around, till they found a occupied conference room. 

On one side of the big table there were sitting both the Chancellors Paige and RatMan. In front of them, Newt.

Minho knew he was supposed to act like a leader, thinking before acting, but for the second time that day, his heart decided for him, and he ran into the room to hug Newt.

Thomas was blaming himself for his lack of planning and strategy, how was he going to bring Newt back home with no weapon and no element of surprise? 

RatMan seems quite unsettled for the sudden invasion of teenagers in the room, but Ava just smile at them “I was wondering how long it will take for you to figure out where the door was…”

“So you were real”

“Yes, I’m real indeed. And, as I was explain to Newt here, I’m also interested in your wellness.”

“She means that they still studying us.” Newt said shifting uncomfortably in Minho’s arms. “Minho, I use to enjoy to breath, ya know?”  
“Slim it, shuck face”

“Yes, we are still studying you. We will not feel guilty for try to save the world, you know?” RatMan interrupt with a cold tone. 

The two scientist proceed to explain that Newt is the only one that survived to the cure. After they ran away in the Paradise, WICKED team started to repeat the same procedure on other infected, but they all died.  
“We tried to study Newt in the new environment to understand why he is different.”

“And You brought him the tea when he was sick…” Minho phrase sounds like an accuse, even if he was glad that the tea help his Newt so much.

“Yes. We were listening at you when Mr Cliff came out with that hypothesis, and, Gosh, we would like to have that guy back to work with our doctors, because that intuition was brilliant”

“So we really have a Crank in our Paradise, between the people YOU checked” Minho, who had untied his grip on the blonde, fastened it back with a protective growl.

“Probably more than one…They were the control variables shuck face, now. let. me. breath” Newt all but squirmed form Minho embrace.

“If Newt is cured, why he still have this hallucinations?” at this Newt and Minho looked at Thomas with identical betrayed expression

“We believe that those could be a way of his brain to indicate him the way to heal better, so we need to know what they told him”   
“No bloody way!”  
“Newt…”

Meanwhile something click in Thomas memory, and it was like in the Maze, when he found the code: one second he had something that bother him, the second later everything slided aligned and became clear. So he asked ”On your experiments with the others infected, did you consider the Newt’s depressive disorder as a Variable?”.

“Yeah, we thought about that. Usually serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine are naturally present in healty brains and assist communication between nerve cells, but their deficiency or alteration in their receptors are believed responsible for the clinical depression, so we tried to suppress them”

“all the three together?”  
“different combination, but if we can open Newt brain we will be able to find the right combination” Jason intervened.   
Ava interrupt him “unless you can figure out another way to exclude one or the other in a less invasive way  
So, Norepinephrine is responsible the fight-or-flight response, and I will rather exclude that Newt have any lack of it.” Ava said with something that sound like pride.

“On the other hand, we are pretty sure that his swing mood are ascribable to serotonin’s low level, and that a serotonin syndromes could be compatible with the toxic reaction that cause the dead of the other subjects.”Janson added harshly.

“What about the third one, the… dopamine?” Newt ask warily, and Minho in response started to rub gently his back. 

“dopamine plays important roles in motor control, motivation, arousal, cognition, and reward, as well as a number of basic lower-level functions including lactation, sexual gratification, and nausea…“

Thomas noticed that Newt wasn’t listen anymore, and the blond boy seems lost in his thoughts. Over Newt’ shoulder, he met Minho’s gaze. “He is up to something” he mouther. Minho acknowledged him with a single nod, and kept caressing Newt’s back.

Newt’s hallucinations were the key. So, something Alby or Teresa told him, but what? Alby used to talk about what they had back in the Glade, about their relationship, and Teresa keep teasing him about.. that’s what his brain was telling him? 

He suddenly blush, but cannot avoid to start to chuckle softly.

“Do you want share anything with the rest of the class, shuck face?” Minho’s words could sound harsh, but there was a sub-tone of amusement due to the sight of his Newt chuckling.

“So, you consider my ‘depressive disorder’ as a Variable, but what about my age? or more specifically, what about me being a horny, hormonal gay teenager alone with a bunch of gorgeous male, available teenagers?”.

“What??”  
“Well, Teresa one day told me that I should really start to have sex with Thomas, or with Minho or with both of them…”

“Ok, let give it a try!” was the enthusiastic, too enthusiastic, answer of RatMan. Minho opened his mouth to start to complain just for riot's sake, just to go against that white rat, but after a second Newt’s words hit him, and what came out of his lips was “Hell, yes!” 

“Wait wait, what we are talking about?” Thomas was oblivious.

“My dopamine level was low during the experiment, and start to rise after that, because my body start to fantasize and concoct first about Alby and after about the two of you.”  
“That is a good input, indeed, If you have sex, and after that your hallucination disappears, we could assume that that was the little kick that we miss in our tests, and we would work on incrementing the level of dopamine during the recovery stage.” the Chancellor looked rinvigorate, and almost rejuvenate by this turning point.

“ok, let’s set up for the test then” RatMan, being the creepy man he was, still looking too excited for this.  
“You are not going to watch us having sex!” Minho and Newt answered together. After their burst, they looked at each other, chuckling. Newt hided his face in Minho’s neck, and with a soft voice asked “Would you like to have sex with me, to save my bloody sanity?”   
“sure thing shuck face”

Newt made a noise, half way between a snort and a chuckle, and after turn his attention to Thomas, who was glaring at Minho as he wanna rip him apart.   
“Tommy?” he called, and the brunette turned his gaze to him, and his eyes softener, even if they still contained a trace of betrayal. “Newt” he recognize.  
“Tommy, would you like to have sex with me and Minho, again to save my bloody sanity?”   
at this Thomas’ smile spread open, and he stepped closer and kissed Newt in a very passionate way. That gained him of a whistle from Minho and a embarrassed cough form Ava.

RatMan ran away mumbling something about preparing a room and about horny teenagers.


	9. Chapter 9

They were trying to not think to their audience, but it wasn’t easy in that aseptic room with neon lights and disinfectant smell.  
They were crowding on an hospital bed, Newt sitting between Tommy and Minho. Ava’d just finish to put sensors all around Newt’s head, little wireless, white chip with little led lights, and in Minho's opinion they looks like a fancy, high-tech, flower crown. That, and the white shirt he was wearing, made him look like a blushing bride in her wedding day.

Minho wanted avoid to think that on the other side of the mirror, RatMan and Chancellors Paige were watching them, but he couldn’t stop to look in that direction. Or, at least, he couldn’t stop till the moment Newt’s hand reached for his cheek, and forced him to looks the blonde in his honey-colored sweet eyes. “don’t mind them, just look at me, nothing else matter…” Newt ended this little speech with a kiss, that started chaste and became more passionate in few second.

Minho went backwards till his back leant against the headboard, with Newt resting against his chest. Thomas was kneeling behind Newt, and after a moment to make his mind, he bent over him, and started to kiss Newt’s neck as in the meanwhile his hands grabbed the pinched hips of the blonde.

Under his hands, Newt rotate to face him, leaning is back against Minho’s defined pectoral. The hands of the asiatic boy rose on the blonde slim chest, caressing all the skin he could reach lifting the other boy’s shirt. 

Thomas was kissing Newt now, like that was his only way to breath. His hands from Newt’s hips sliding down the older boy’s trousers. 

Before he knew what’s happening, Newt was naked between his two best friends, and there were two right hands on his cock, and two pair of lips on his neck and chest. He soundly swallowed air, ready to lost himself in the arousal, when the shit hit the proverbial fan. 

Alby was there, staring at Newt with a disgusted expression. “you, slut, stupid whore, you are good only to open your legs, aren’t you?” were the venomous words on Alby’s mouth.

Minho was the first one to realize something was wrong with the blonde in his arms. He kicked Thomas leg, to gain his attention. Well, it took couple of hit anyway, to distract Thomas from Newt’s neck “What?” was the brunette clueless question.

But in that moment he realized that Newt’s mind wasn’t on the game anymore, as the brown eyes were focused on an empty spot on the left of the bed.  
“Hey, Newt? Are you ok?”

In that moment tears appeared on Newt eyes as he start to whisper ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry, please forgive, Alby, I love you Alby I’m sorry’ again and again and Minho felt his hopes sink. So, when he turn to the mirror to ask “What’s happening?”, his tone lacked of the usual boldness. 

“From our reading, looks like the Flare is trying to protect itself…” was Ava’s answer through the intercom.

“Should we interrupt this experiment?” the asian boy asked to no-one as he wrapped his arms around the blonde midsection, his cheek pressing on Newt hair.

Thomas didn’t seems to hear him, He grabbed Newt cheeks firmly in his hands and used his thumbs to dry the tears. “Newt, we are alone here. Alby is not here, is only in your mind. He is not real, let him go, please, let him go.   
As you said before don’t mind him, just look at me, nothing else matter…” 

Newt's eyes still unfocused, and he was crying and asking Alby to forgive him for a little more time, drawing his legs to is chest and wrapping his hands around his ears defensively. "Please please Alby, stop".

"He is not here, Newt, it's just you and me and Minho" 

Minho followed him whispering in the blonde ear ”Yeah, there is no one else here with you, only me and Tommy, Tommy and me, please Newt, it’s just Tommy and me”  
Newt breath settled down a little, and he shook his head before slightly turning to Minho: “I’m the only one that can call him ‘Tommy’, shuck face". After that, he tuned to the brunette "Please Tommy, send him away, make Alby stops, please".

Tommy kissed his forehead "He will not hurt you, he is not here, just say focused on me and Minho, ok?" At that Newt answer with a little nod, and some of the tension left his body.

Minho sighed in relief, but Thomas still wearing a worried expression. Before the older boy could ask anything, the intercom spoke again “Guys, you have to finish that as soon as possible, the reading from his brain are all but comforting”

In the meantime Thomas' hand risen one hand to Newt face, to dry his new tears, only to end up with a red strained hand. “Minho, he is crying blood” was the brunette scared whisper.  
“shuck it”


	10. Chapter 10

In the meantime Thomas' hand risen one hand to Newt face, to dry his new tears, only to end up with a red strained hand. “Minho, he is crying blood” was the brunette scared whisper.  
“shuck it”

This time was RatMan’s voice the one that came from the intercom “That could be actually our fault…” “What the hell?!?” “We gave him aspirin in his tea, and the abuse of it could justify a capillary leak… well, that or the Flare is trying to regain control, as the kill zone try to contrast it. In that case this fight is leading to the hypocoagulability, and bleeding…”

“What we should do now?”   
before Minho could finish his sentence, Newt body jerked in his arms, and jumped on Thomas.   
The brunette was so surprised that he didn’t react till the blonde bit him on his neck, just under the ear. That that wasn't a playful bite was obvious after Thomas start to scream.   
Minho grabbed the Brit by his midsection and tossed him away from Thomas. Newt fell on the ground like a ragdoll, but after a moment to regain his breath, he jumped on the dark haired one with a animal-like growl. 

Minho could barely understand what was going on,as everyone seemed scream all around him - Thomas was calling Newt’s name, and Ava was demanding for a sedative and RatMan was screaming something intelligible - and before he realize that, Newt’s nails was connecting with his left eyebrow and was marking him with three scars from the eyebrow to the cheekbone.

In that moment, finally, many hands appeared all around Newt’s arms, holding him steady till a needle pinched his neck, and the blonde body went limp.  
_____

 

Coming back was like reemerge from a dark lake, or at least, like what Newt believed could be the feeling of emerging from a dark lake.

He slowly exhaled, and tried to seat on the bed without disturbing Minho and Tommy whom were sleeping one on each bed side. His movements weren’t smooth as he’d hoped, and the two other boys start to flail and wake up.  
When the two of them faced the Brit, Newt couldn’t breath around the lump in his throat. “What happened to you two?” he asked with tears in his voice, his right hand flying over the bandage on Tommy’s neck, and the left hovering over Minho’s scarred eye, and his eyes darting form one to the other, checking for more injuries. 

Tommy’s face crumpled as he force himself to not weep, and he grabbed Newt’s hand in his owns, rubbing his cheek against it. Minho cupped Newt’s hand, and placed a little kiss on his palm before standing and turning and taking couple of step from him toward the window on the bed side. “What’s the last thing you can remember?” he asked without turned to face his best friend.

“Uhuu, we were on that bed, touching each other, and….I’m not sure, but I think I could have seen Alby, maybe?…. but I don’t know what happened later… ” Newt knew he sounded as lost as he felt, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

Minho’s back was the only thing he can saw, but he didn’t need to see his face to know that Minho was crying, it was obvious from his shoulder position, and from the sound of his next words: “The Flare tried to survive, and you went all Crank on us, slimhead”

“Those injuries are my fault?” when Newt didn’t get an answer he turned to the brunette that still at his side “Tommy? I did it to you?”   
“That wasn’t you, it was the Flare, I know that, we both know that…” Thomas gave up on not cry, and just hugged the thinner boy, weeping in the chock of his shoulder “I wasn’t your fault, it’ is not your fault…”

“Min?” Newt called, stretching out an arm even if Minho still out reach.  
“…”  
“Min, please, look at me…I’m sorry for hurting you, I’m so sorry, please Minho, please…”   
“…”  
“Minho?”  
Minho turned, and watched at the two boys crying on the bed through his own tears.  
“Oh, Newt….” he sighed “It’s ok, you are going to be fine babe, we will be fine, ok?” he joined the other two on the bed. He wondered how many times they end up that way in the last couple of months? Will their lives ever becoming easier? 

____

 

His thoughts were interrupted by Ava. “You are awake, finally” “We should restart the test now” RatMan added, entering after her.  
“NO!”  
“Newt?” was the worried question from the other two boys.  
“We cannot, I cannot go through this again, I cannot deal with the idea of hurting them… Please, I cannot do that again…”  
“Newt…” Ava sighed, half worried, half upset.

“No, no, nonnononono” Newt drew his legs to his chest, and wrap his arms around them “please, no… Minho, Tommy, please, tell her we will never go through that again…”  
“but Newt, is the only way to heal you…” Thomas retort rubbing circle on the brit back.

“Yes, Newt, you will still have hallucinations if we don’t setted your dopamine level…”  
“You don’t know! that is just an hypothesis!”  
“Newt, the reaction of your illness to the procedure is quite a good clue that that is the right way…” Ava’s tone was the one you could use with a stubborn child.  
“What if I wouldn't repeat the procedure? I would become a Crank anyway?”  
“We could exclude that, from our datas you will still have hallucinations, and you could infect other people with the Flare, and you will develop fever any time you will meet any infected person. But your kill zone can deal with the illness, unless the illness feels threaten in any way”  
In this moment Newt appreciated RatMan dry speech more than Ava sugar coated words  
“So I’m sort of bomb”  
“Yes, but you will be no danger for your friend for the time being, unless you decide to have sex together.”

“In this case, can we please go home now?”


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait. this is the last chapter. Depending on the reactions and on the Plot Bunny, I could decide to go for a sequel.

“In this case, can we please go home now?”

It took them another two weeks to go home.

At first Ava insisted to check Newt blood and to take another couple of reading from his brain. After that Newt developed another fever, and to get it down without the tea took five days, a different drug and a lot of iced baths.

At the end of their first week in the WICKED facilities, Newt looked pale but better than before. Minho and Thomas were sitting on Newt bed, keeping him company after lunch, when Newt shyly admitted that probably he just peed on himself.

“Ok, ok, let us take care of you, ok? Minho, lift him, I’m going to take new sheet… don’t worry Newt, everything will be fine” Tommy reassured him heading for the door.

Minho mutter in agreement, and lift the slim boy in his arms, only to discover that on the sheet there was no pee, but blood.  
For Minho that sight was too much, and he just managed to drop Newt back on the bed before Thomas had to retrieve a fainted asian boy from the floor. (“Really Minho?It’s not like you never saw blood in our messed up lives…” ”Slim it, shuck face, it was overwhelming!”)

That incident, well Newt one, not Minho’s, leaded to other five days of test, of prothrombin and other drugs to help the coagulation, and of checks on coagulation factors to avoid thrombosis.

After that it took a good dose of pleading and making puppy eyes to convince Ava to let them go.

She leaded them to another Flat Trans, the one that will left them closest to the Paradise buildings.  
Before she let them go, she gave to Thomas a little device, with a button on it and a syringe “If he changes his mind, just press the button. If things get nasty, use the sedative. Good luck Tom.”

___

As the three teenagers step out of their transport, their instincts told them something happened there.

Newt, that was leaning against Minho shoulder, straighten and braced himself.

They slowly approached the city, highly strung and ready to fight. When they arrived to the main square, looked obvious to them that a fight had taken place here, but things looked calm now, even too much.

They spotted Harriet and Sonya, whom were hurrying towards the building that usually hosted the Gatherings.  
When the leaders of the group B saw them, they deviate towards them.

“Where have you been? There was an attack, for God sakes!” Sonya sounded even more worn out than how she looked.

“An attack? From whom?” Thomas asked, even if the three of them were already guessing the answer.

“Cranks, people we believed friends, just turn out being infected!” Harriet harsh words confirmed the boys suspects.  
“We killed 31 people, our people, where did you hide yourselves? Why weren’t you here?” Sonya now looked teary but ready to fight. Harriet placed an hand on her forearm and stopped her “We have no time for this, we shall all keep looking for injured companions and infected enemies.  
Sonya, you are coming with me to the south part of Paradise, the three of you guys, you are taking weapon from the main building armory and after you are going to north.  
If you find injured uninfected people you will bring them in the Gathering building, if you find infected scum, you will finish them. Copy that?”  
Minho was ready to snap back, “Who died and put you in charge”, but Thomas and Newt elbows in his ribs stopped him.

___

Tommy was the first one to spot them. The wounded man was lying on the pavement, and a little light blu bundle was wrapped around the man’s neck.

Tommy was the first one to spot them, but Newt was the first one to kneeled before them. The blonde placed a comforting hand on the bundle’s back and started to whisper “It’s ok, Daisy… let him go, I got you, let him go so that we can help him, and everything will be fine, sweetheart”

The Brit gently pulled her face away from the man’s neck, Jorge’s neck. As Thomas kneeled to check on the Hispanic, Newt turned the girl in his arms, checking for injuries.

What he saw steal the air from his lungs. Before him there wasn’t his sweet Daisy. The child, not Daisy, not anymore, had blood around her mouth, and her eyes were deranged and insane. The blonde realized, and that almost made him sick, that the blood came from Jorge, as she bit off part of the man’s right ear. No, that wasn’t Daisy anymore, in front of him there was a fully passed-the-gone Crank.

Before he could alert the others, the little girl sprinted into action aiming for Newt ear.

___

Minho took a look to the wounded form of Jorge, of his ear bitted off, and started to realize that something was off. The last clue was Newt screaming in pain.

By the time he took everything in, Thomas had already stabbed the girl’s arm with his syringe, giving her a third of the dose, and Minho hoped it was enough and not too much.  
___

It wasn’t enough, and the girl woke up before they arrive in the Gathering building.

Newt was holding her, as Thomas and Minho help Jorge, who was awake but shocked.

Before they can enter in the building, she was acting up and screaming, and Harriet was pointing a gun to the girl’s head.

And after everyone was screaming.  
___

Newt was trying to place himself between Daisy and Harriet, and to hold the first and face the other. "Please, Harriet, there is a cure, there will be a cure, please"

Thomas droped Jorge, hoping that Minho could handle him, and place himself between Newt and the Group B leader.

"Harriet, let's talk about that"  
"WHAT PART OF KILL THE INFECTED YOU DIDN'T UNDERSTAND?"  
"She is just a child" Sonya tryed to reason.  
"Still a Crank, we cannot help her, she is just dangerous for us" Harriet rioted back, without hide the betrayed tone from her friend for her stance.

Minho handled the wounded man to Cliff, before he stepped alongside Thomas.

"WICKED is still working on the cure, they still observing us.They are close to a solution. You already knew that Newt is not immune, but cured! Allow us bring her to them" Minho was pleading, and he didn't like it, but he'd started to be affectionated to the little girl and evenmore he knew that Newt couldn't loose the child, not without going over the edge again.

 

"They have a cure? Because blondie there is not looking so well, with the fevers and the hallucinations!" Harriet was all nasty remarks and hits below the belt.

"We are finalizing the cure, we will finish it...I swear! Minho, tell her how close we were..." when Newt entreaty went unheeded, the Brit took a deep breath.

As he let it go, Newt lifted his weapon and aim it to Harriet "Tommy, please, press the bloody button, we are going back, to finish the cure, and we are taking Daisy with us. And no one is going to stop us"

Thomas admired the unexpected change of mood. the Newt in front of him was the same that had leaded the Gladers to the last battle in the Maze / _Great, we're all bloody inspired_ /.  
And as he lifted his weapon, with the corner of his eye he saw Minho point is gun to Harriet as well.

"Ok, let's do that" Minho said, and Thomas press the button.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that for me is the end.  
> maybe i will make a sequel, but by now that's it. Maybe is sort of suspended, but I feel that that is in line with the books style (even if this klunk is far from the book level).  
> I hope you enjoyed it, thank you for follow it till here.


End file.
